Brazil-Beef plants want ranching in the Amazon.

The Brazilian Meat Exporters’ Association, known as Abiec, wants a moratorium on the expansion on cattle ranching in the Amazon region, according to a report in newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo Wednesday. Brazilian cattle encroaching on the Amazon is well-known, but the amount of money being invested in the region by the Brazilian Development Bank, BNDES, are high, according to studies by a local non-governmental organization, Amazonia. Forty-percent of BNDES’ investments last year were pumped into the meatpacking industry, coinciding with a rise in Brazilian beef exports and the arrival of large industries such as Bertin S.A., JBS S.A., and Marfrig in the region due to cheap land prices.